Such a method is known from the patent application US 2003/0189202 published Oct. 9, 2003. It is described therein how electrodes are formed, for example on a silicon substrate, in that catalytic locations are created for growing nano wires. Nano wires are then formed thereon by means of a deposition technique, which wires may comprise a semiconductor material or may be, for example, carbon nano tubes. An electrically insulating layer thicker than the height of the nano wires is subsequently deposited over the entire assembly. The resulting structure is then planarized by a technique such as chemical-mechanical polishing, whereby an upper side of the nano wires is exposed. A metal may be deposited thereon, for example, so as to contact the nano wire. The device may comprise a chemical or biological sensor, or alternatively a field emitter for a picture display device or for other applications.
A disadvantage of the known method is that it is not easy to expose an upper side of the nano wire in an accurate manner. This is a drawback in particular if the nano wire forms part of a semiconductor element having a more complicated structure, such as a transistor.